Farewell, Anthony Wright

Roll to the 30 second mark

It's rare that an unknown player can make a moribund program relevant again. But on a chilly, November New York night, a single bounce pass Anthony Wright did just that. Playing the last critical minutes of a game that Michigan should never have been in, Wright seemlessly threaded a back door bounce pass to DeShawn Sims as he broke down the middle of the paint. Scroll to the 30 second mark. As Sims goes up for the dunk you can almost see 15 years of anger, frustration, desperation, and sorrow melt off the Michigan program.

Anthony Wright gave us that.

As the conference expansion armegedon came to a head last week, Wright (who graduated from Michigan in May) announced he would transfer to Toledo to obtain his masters degree and play out his final year of college basketball eligibility as a Rocket.

Even though Anthony wasn't a star, in hindsight it seems sad that his departure was met with so little ink. Sure he wasn't the greatest player to lace up for Michigan, but Wright had his moments. More importantly, he was one of those guys that seemed to keep people loose. A glue player who makes his impact felt from the bench even if it's not seen on the court. I'll miss him jumping up and down on the sidelines, encouraging people, and dammit I'll miss him tweeting about Michigan (thought I hope to God he never stops clicking the keyboard). Wright just seems like a good guy, the type of guy we should be routing for to succeed and return to the NCAA tournament one more time.

Good luck Anthony. And thanks.